About Hell

ABOUT HELL

It’s a cloudy, rainy day in Stereo Falls; cloud overlapping cloud overlapping cloud and so forth. Cars are on and off the streets with pedestrians walking the frame around them. Of course it could all very well look like an evolving painting, moving picture, or free TV from behind a glass window daily. And that's where she is: Ruth McCarthy - 18 years of age, saved from a burning warehouse mere weeks ago. Evidence says Ruth was the cause of the fire but her story says otherwise. You decide...

Wrapped in a blanket and white scrubs while planted in a chair, Ruth sits silently watching out the window. Only she knows what she sees out there. She's rarely said a word since arriving to The Golden Meadow. Some of the other crazies might attempt to strike up a conversation but eventually wander off when she doesn’t reply.

"Ruth," a nurse says, "There's a man here who wants to know about your... Well when you... Just, just tell him what you told us.”

"Is she...violent?” The man asks preparing himself.

"Oh no, she's fine."

"Oh, then I can take it from here, thanks.” He says after a sigh of relief.

"Alright.” She adds, "If you need anything just buzz me."

"Okay, thank you."

Ruth, still silent, has an interested visitor.

He leans down to her, "Ruth? Miss McCarthy, my name is Frank King. I'm here to ask you about what went on in that warehouse.” Frank King is tall, white, and in a grey suit with glasses and brown hair with a notepad in his hand.

"You want to learn about Hell?” She asks him, still staring straight out of the window without blinking. The young woman is white, in white scrubs, with short disheveled red hair. She doesn’t sound malicious or evil, on the contrary to her situation she sounds like a young innocent girl.

"Pardon?"

"That's what you wanted to know, right? About Hell? You want to know if the stories are true."

"What stories, exactly?” She stays quiet. He knows what stories he thinks he's heard and her silence shows she knows that he knows. "Why don't you tell me what happened?"

"It was Thursday. A normal Thursday...” She begins to explain.

It was in the middle of their high school hallway when her friend, Katy, first presented her with the tickets, the tickets to a big rock show coming up; the biggest. Ruth was standing at her locker amongst friends and Katy approached her.

“Ruth, guess what I got?”

Ruth winced, “Ugh, don’t tell me you caught somethin’ from Bobby.”

Katy laughed, “Ew no. He’s clean… He better be clean.” The girls laughed together and their friends joined in. Katy held out her index finger before reaching in her purse to reveal two tickets.

“What is this?” Ruth took a ticket and read it with widening eyes. “66 Dead Cicadas are coming here!?”

“Yeah, it’s this weird thing they got going. You know how you thought it was sooo ridiculous that I paid the extra money to be in the exclusive club on their website? Well it’s a private concert for members only so I got two so we can go.”

“Oh my God.”

Their friends laughed, “66 Dead Cicadas? You guys listen to the weirdest shit.”

“Yeah yeah, you guys are just jealous.” Ruth playfully stuck her tongue out to her friends.

“There’s not gonna be an opening band, just them and they’re calling it The Last Show on Earth.” Katy added fuel to the excitement’s fire.

“This is awesome. Thank you!” The girls hugged and jumped up and down and then the bell rang.

“Alright, everyone, get to class!” Yelled the vice principal from the center of the hall.

The girls and their friends vacated the halls to get to class.

Later, on lunch break the girls sat at a crowded lunch table.

“So it’s tomorrow night?” Ruth was curious.

“Yeah, since it’s exclusive they wanted to keep it on the hush-hush.”

“This is so fucking awesome! But wait, I’m not a member.”

“How are they gonna know? A member bought two tickets.”

“The next day we couldn’t have been more excited…”

Back to school, it was Friday morning and the girls were as giddy as could be. They walked down the halls only thinking about one thing: The Last Show on Earth.

“So what are you gonna wear?” Ruth asked clutching the strap of her book bag.

“I was thinking about this short red skirt and that black 66 Dead Cicadas shirt I have with the slits in it. What about you?”

“Hmm…  Black skirt, fishnets, and my 66 Dead Cicadas tank top.”

“Nice.”

“We waited out the day, thrilled. We couldn’t wait for the final bell to ring…”

The bell rang and the children escaped the educational prison system and were free. Among the sea of students were the eager Ruth & Katy.

“I’ll be by to pick you up about seven.” Katy told her friend upon departing in their different directions.

“I’ll be ready.” Ruth assured her.

Ruth sat at the dinner table with her parents eating the meal her mother had prepared.

“So how late will you be?” The mom asked.

“I don’t know when the concert’s going to be over.” Ruth shrugged.

“The correct answer was that you won’t be late at all...” The stern father spoke up.

“Ugh, dad, c’mon, it’s my favorite band and they never play around here. It could be my only time to ever see them.”

“66 Dead Cicadas? What happened to band names? They’re so weird nowadays. How can you listen to a group called 66 Dead Cicadas?”

“It’s just a name, mom.”

“I’m just saying…”

Ruth retreated into her meal while her parents went on about how music these days is so terrible.

The night of the concert after dinner: Ruth waited outside her house for her best friend to arrive. She was dolled up to see her favorite band for the first time, dressed in attire just right for such a heavy rock show. At that moment she heard the booming sounds of said band coming from a vehicle fast approaching. Katy zoomed up to the house and Ruth excitedly ran to the car.

“Hey.”

“Hey. Ready to rock?”

“Let’s roll!”

Ruth noticed the backseat was loaded with CDs and other memorabilia from 66 Dead Cicadas.

“Jeez, Kate, you bring your entire Dead Cicada collection?” Ruth laughed.

“I’m hoping to get something signed.”

“I was thinking about getting a signature and get it tattooed.”

“Yeah, with my luck I’d do that and then they’d break up.” Katy chuckled.

“Even if they broke up tomorrow they still gave us plenty of awesome tunes and on top of that we could say we saw their last show.” Ruth shrugged.

“Well it is called The Last Show on Earth…” Katy laughed and cranked up the radio to a sonic level volume and the girls screamed out their excitement together, “Woooo!”

The venue for the concert was a warehouse that used to be an old shoe factory back in the fifties. While mostly vacant the warehouse still contained wooden crates stacked up in the corners and at the walls that, no doubt, the band’s stage crew had pushed to the edges to make room for the crowd. The building was full of crazed fans, exclusive members to 66 Dead Cicadas’ website all with their VIP concert tickets. Tons of fans flocked and gathered together sharing stories of the band’s previous concerts they’d attended and what they like about them. The crowd looked diverse however unified at the same time. Concert goers dressed in leather and black mesh, makeup and various facial accessories. Ruth & Katy entered, excited. They lit up at the thought and the sight of the location and instantly began mingling with other fans.

“Isn’t this amazing?” Ruth exclaimed to a fellow fan.

“I know, right!? How long you been listening?” The young man took a drag of his cigarette and blew the smoke to the side away from Ruth.

“Since the second album. After that I went back to the first one and just fell hard. I haven’t heard a song of theirs I don’t like.”

“I know what you mean. It’s like every album just gets better and better!” They’re excitement was shared. Katy returned with a couple of drinks.

“Anybody thirsty?”

“Hell yeah!” Ruth shouted before getting her drink from Katy.

Ruth and the young guy shared a seductive look before she drank. Katy noticed and giggled.

“All the little piggies are wrapped up tight…!” 66 Dead Cicadas’ frontman yelled into the microphone. Everyone’s attention directed towards the stage at the sight of the band coming out.

“So let’s go all night!” The crowd screamed in unison completing the lyric to the song referenced and with that the band jumped into the song, ‘Little Piggies’. The song was fast and pounding as the singer shouted the lyrics out. The crowd loved it, jumping around, singing along, and cheering. The moshpit was jumping and growing. Ruth & Katy loved it, jumping up and down screaming to one another in disbelief that they’re even there. The band was decked out with various tattoos and piercings while donning assorted black garb. The song came to a finish and was greeted with great applause. The show continued a few fast, loud, and heavy songs more met with a continuous thunderous response by their exclusive fan club that was granted such a show.

The band came to a pause after a song. The house lights came down. The singer stepped up to the microphone, “Alright… Everybody having a good time tonight!?”

The crowd responded with great cheer.

“We’re gonna bring it down a little. I need you all to help me out with this one…” The band started playing a slow, building, dark and brooding tune. “I want you all to join me once you get it, alright?” The crowd cheered in agreement.

“Come to us, the darkness inside

With no fuss, by you we abide”

The singer repeated this over and over while the hypnotic music played beneath his voice and soon the crowd joined in the chant-like lines. The voices of everyone in attendance throbbed in unison,

“Come to us, the darkness inside

With no fuss, by you we abide”

“And that’s when everything changed…”

The audience and the band chanted in unison while the throbbing music escalated. The lights were still out and the stage was barely lit. Heinous feedback came from the amplifiers. A thunderous thump was coming from somewhere becoming louder than 66 Dead Cicadas. The chant continued as did the clunking sound and the harsh feedback. The thumping was getting closer, louder. The stage began to shake, began to quake. The band continued and while some of the crowd continued to chant, some cheered as they thought it was all part of the show. Center stage split and broke open and red light came up and smoke billowed out of the opening. The crowd watched as black wisps flew out of the open stage sporadically and loved the “stage show” the band has displayed for them.

“This is amazing! I wonder how much all this cost!” Katy shouted to her friend while mesmerized by the show.

“…And that’s when HE came out…” Ruth says shakily.

Frank King looks a little confused, “Who came out?”

“…Satan.”

Frank’s more than a little stunned by this answer, “Satan? As in, the Devil himself?”

“Yeah… It’s not like in the Bible… It’s worse…”

Large black hands came from the opening in the stage, opening the gap even more breaking the stage open completely. And that’s when he arose, the Devil; tall, large and black, without clothing.

“I’m sorry…black? As in the Devil is African-American?”

“No, just…black, darkness. He was detailed but the details kept changing…”

Satan rose from the hole in the stage, the embodiment of darkness. His eyes glowed and while he did indeed have horns, they kept changing, at times they’d look like ram horns and at others they’d look like the stereotypical devil horns we’re all used to seeing. He stood on stage looking like the most expensive stage prop the crowd had ever seen. The crowd cheered and the band quivered in his presence. Some of the large being’s detail would change from lean muscle tone to raw muscle flesh and back to darkness. The band put down their instruments and kneeled before him. Satan stood tall, proud, and confident while scanning the building turning his large head side to side with glowing eyes. The light from beneath the stage lit the Lord of Lies, the Lord of Darkness and, as Ruth had said, his features changed constantly. The audience loved the show and couldn’t believe what they were seeing. While the dark shapes continued to fly around the room Satan’s features, though within man’s shape, would change from that of a snake to a goat to a collection of fallen angels. At one point there appeared to be serpents on his shoulders and when he’d turn nubs or stumps could be seen on his shoulder blades where there were once wings.

“At one point I was sure I saw in him an image of a nude man and woman reaching to each other. It didn’t say but I just knew it was Adam and Eve.”

When the Devil breathed, the images shown in his figure rapidly changed as his body pulsated with each breath. He stepped forward with a thunder-like stomp. “Woo!” The crowd cheered. Satan looked down to his minions, the kneeling band. His head tilted at this sight before smiling with his eyes closed, bringing his head back in a large inhale. He held out his hand to the members of the popular metal band 66 Dead Cicadas as they ignited in flames. The band cried out in pain while Satan smiled, chuckling heartily. After the burning and the agony their heads exploded one by one, popping like overfull balloons.

“People cheered at the sight of the show but the heat of the flames and the horrid smell was just too real. I started to realize it wasn’t part of the show…”

The souls of the band rose from their corpses, as black and airy as the figures seen coming from the hole in the stage prior to the Devil’s appearance, circled Satan, and flew up to the ceiling joining the collective above. With the dark bodiless spirits hovering overhead, it looked like a black cloud over the crowd. The bodies on stage continued to burn quickly until they were ash and soon the ash figures crumbled and withered. That’s when the Dark Lord turned his attention towards the band’s adoring fanbase. Ruth grew nervous despite Katy and the others cheering with uproarious applause. He held his hand out to the crowd with his palm up and it raised. While the crowd hollered Satan took in his praise feeding off it. His hand turned over, his long nails evident. One by one the members of this exclusive fan club ignited into flame. The joyous yells turned into horrific screams of pain and in their agony The Devil trembled in ecstasy. His nostrils and lips quivered taking it all in. More and more concert goers became lit and the smell of their burning flesh filled the available airspace.

“It was worse than I’d always read and been told. The Devil is real and he’s far scarier than he’s portrayed. What’s written about him in the Bible doesn’t do his evil justice but, then again, it’s hard to put into words so I understand…”

Ruth and Katy watched in terror. “Katy, this isn’t a show! This shit is real!” Ruth took Katy’s hand and tried to pull her away from the flaming crowd around them, “Let’s get the hell out of here!” But it wasn’t but seconds later when Ruth’s hand was burnt by her best friend bursting into fire herself. “Ah! Katy! No!” Ruth pulled her hand back and cried while her lifelong friend burned before her eyes. She tried patting Katy down to put the flames out but it wasn’t working. Ruth sobbed knowing she couldn’t help her.

Katy cried out, “Ruth! AH! Help me!!” Katy’s eyes burst into flames next. Ruth couldn’t watch and turned her head before Katy’s head was the next to explode. Attendees scattered like cockroaches scurrying in a panic but they wouldn’t get far before everyone was engulfed in flames.

Satan, the Devil himself, stood on stage a rock star with his arms out to his sides, taking in the wonderful agony he’s created. The dark smoke filled the warehouse and he breathed it in before blowing fiery smoke circles from deep within his gullet.

“I was terrified and tried to find a way out but I was surrounded by fire. My heart was racing and I was paralyzed with fear. The smell was horrendous. I can still smell it on myself as if it’s baked into my skin…”

Beelzebub watched from atop of the stage, to him atop of the world, as the crowd continued to burn. The demons, the dark spirits, floated and swam aimlessly through the air above the jaggedly sharp and painful flames. They summoned, he came. People in the crowds continued to cry out in horrific screams as their skin bubbled and melted. The anguish of each individual soul in attendance was intoxicating to the Devil as the high he got from the torture of human beings sent his senses into sensory overload and he loved it, relishing in the chaos. Ruth watched smoke release from her peers as their screaming was coming to an end. Then it began; that familiar popping. At random throughout the audience heads started to explode one by one, always one by one. The sound of the miniature explosions was wet and heavy. The skulls busted like glass bottles in a fire and the brains popped from within, both breaking and ripping through the head’s burnt skin in an instant. Their necks looked like shed snake skin and the tops of their spinal cords fell limp.

Ruth screamed and couldn’t get out from the center of the crowd and everyone around her was rapidly becoming headless so she dropped to the floor sitting with her knees up curled up tightly keeping her head down. ‘Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!’ Ruth thought to herself. She could hear the wet, blunt popping around her and the cries of the spirits released from the people around her. She kept her eyes closed so tightly it hurt. It was all so surreal for Ruth; her skin was crawling and tingled as if she were covered in spiders. After each head exploded from the concert goers the spirits, or the darkness of such spirits, rose and joined the others above.

“…And then it was over… It all just…stopped. My heart beat so hard it hurt.”

The sounds of excruciating anguish had stopped along with any bursting sounds. After a minute of this jarring silence Ruth opened her sore and tired eyes and looked up before standing. She looked around at the human embers slumped, smoking. The warehouse looked like a warzone, a good deal of the bodies still burning. Silent in her shock and awe she gazed around the venue before directing her attention to the dark entity on the stage still lit by the light from below. The details in his large figure continued to change before her eyes.

“What did you see in him?”

“I don’t know. I can’t really say. The darkness of man, various animals and creatures, unexplainable horrors…”

“Did he speak to you?”

“No… He didn’t have to…”

The ever-morphing Lucifer stood strong staring directly at Ruth. A devilish grin crawled across his face before he snarled in her direction. The sounds of the spirits above her captured her attention if only for a moment. She looked up to see the swirling dark matter drifting abstractly across the ceiling, not being able to tell any of the beings apart from one another. ‘Katy, where are you?’ She thought to herself. The Devil extended his hand once again; the fingerprints of man exaggerate upon his hand for a split second before falling down into its dark blank surface bearing only scars. Ruth looked Satan directly in the eyes but was without motion. She either couldn’t or wouldn’t move but she stayed still while The Devil stared at her with hungry eyes. The collective of blackened spirits swiftly moved to the Devil’s palm as if being sucked by a vacuum. The dark articles were now compact as a lone black ball held captive by their new Dark Lord. The ball glowed and screaming faces swirled around inside it like a fishbowl of tortured souls. Handprints were visible on its surface like you’d see when pressed against a window.

“I couldn’t believe my eyes. I know what I saw. I know how real it was and how real it felt. But still, I couldn’t believe it…”

His hand closed and snuffed the ball’s light and when he reopened his hand it was no longer there. The Devil and Ruth never broke their stares and then he pointed out at her, the lone survivor in this mass carnage as she backed up. In that instant his body fell to ashes on the stage while Ruth gasped. The ashes moved as if still one solid entity and slithered back down into the hole on stage like a snake. The light from the opening faded. A large sigh of disbelief exited Ruth as she continued to look around at the devastation. Many of the bodies were still burning and the fire spread quickly setting the building ablaze. The flames grew and the ashes of the building soon joined the bodies within.

“By the time I had gotten out the fire department and police were already there…”

“Well now… That is quite the story.”

“I know you don’t believe me. If I were in your shoes, I don’t think I’d believe me either. It’s absurd.”

“It is. Tell me, Ruth, what’s your imagination like?”

“You think I’m making all this up and that’s crazier than what actually happened in that warehouse. I mean, why would I kill anybody let alone my best friend? There were so many indescribable horrors, I’m only telling you the ones I can remember…the ones I can’t forget.”

“It is intricately detailed, who could make up such a story?”

“Exactly…”

“Why do you think you survived? If it was indeed The Devil, why wouldn’t he want you too?”

“I’ve been thinking about that… The only thing I can come up with is that I wasn’t supposed to be there. I wasn’t an exclusive member of the club. Never thought I’d be so happy to not be included…”

“Have your parents been to see you?”

“Once, heh, they think I’m as crazy as everybody else does. They’re ashamed of me; of what they think I’ve done. But they don’t understand. No one does. This wasn’t just an incident; this is something that will stay with me for the rest of my life. I can smell the burnt hair, skin, and flesh. I can hear their cries for help and their painful screams.” Ruth looks at her hand as she opens and closes it, “I can still feel Katy’s hand in mine when she began to burn. It’s very real and it’ll never go away.”

Frank looks stunned, struck even. He nods and writes down the remainder of his notes and extends his hand to her, “Well I thank you for your time today, Ruth. I’m…I’m sorry for everything you went through.”

Ruth remains silent, still staring out of the window, not paying him any attention.

Frank nods retracting his hand, “Yeah, well…”

As he’s walking away she stops him briefly, “Mr. King?”

He turns back, “Yes, Ruth?”

“Will you tell everyone? Will you tell the world the truth?”

Hesitant he answers, “I’ll… I’ll tell your story. Goodbye, Ruth.”

“Goodbye.” Softly comes from Ruth’s lips as she stares blankly out of the window. Who knows what she really sees from that window anymore for her eyes have seen what many only read about in books. The things she has witnessed cannot be unseen.

It’s a cloudy, rainy day in Stereo Falls; cloud overlapping cloud overlapping cloud and so forth. Ruth sits and watches the clouds fight for space in the sky while numb to the ‘real world’. Alas, it’s time for meds as her nurse has arrived with her dosage…